G’Day Oppa! Psy’s Double Down Under

When Sydney resident Derrick Dong-gun Kim walks down the street in sunglasses, he attracts double-takes due to his likeness to one Park Jae-sang, better-known as Psy.

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That likeness has been pretty good for business.

Mr. Kim now performs at events for around four hours a week under the persona of “SYP,” mimicking the K-Pop star’s “Gangnam Style” success and was flown business class to Phoenix, Arizona to perform at website registration company GoDaddy Group Inc.’s year-end party.

Mr. Kim, creative director at advertising agency 18 Feet & Rising, had the impersonation thrust upon him in late 2012 when one of his clients, government-owned Korea Tourism Organization, asked him to dress as the singer for a function.

“When I got there, everyone was asking to have a photo and if I was who they thought, and I thought I should go along with it,” Mr. Kim told The Wall Street Journal, adding that he thought his cover would be blown after he danced to the song.

“They still didn’t realize it was me, I guess we are both chubby, quirky Koreans around the same age,” says the 33 year-old, who is two years younger than Mr. Park.

Mr. Kim spends most of his workdays on bridging the gap between Korea and Australia through advertising campaigns such as K-Pose, which involved fans uploading photos of themselves dressed as K-Pop stars for the chance to win a tour of Korea with bands Miss A and 2PM, and designing t-shirts to help tourists communicate in Korea.

After performing on Australian national television show Sunrise in October on the same morning as Psy, Mr. Kim posted advertisements about himself on websites Craigslist and Gumtree. GoDaddy Group found him and whisked him away to perform at Chase Field, home to Major League Baseball team the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of more than 5,000 people.

Gillian Tan for The Wall Street Journal

Derrick Dong-gun Kim, out of character, except for the sunglasses.

In the past few months he’s been hired for “a couple of a hundred” Australian dollars an hour (at least US$208 an hour) for corporate events, children’s birthdays and private parties; including one on New Year’s Eve while his counterpart was in New York’s Times Square.

His next gig is before an Australian National Basketball League game between the Sydney Kings and the New Zealand Breakers next Saturday night, where more than 6,000 spectators will be encouraged to participate in what’s being labeled “Australia’s Biggest Gangnam Style dance-off.”

Mr. Kim, who was born in Gangseo, west of Seoul, hopes to meet Psy when he travels Down Under in March. He’s already on the popstar’s radar. @Psy_Oppa tweeted last week: “Seems like there’s a fake psy in Australia!!! And he’s pretending a lot!!! This is a reminder that I won’t be there till March 2nd!!!”

“I want to meet him to thank him for helping me realize my potential, my creativity and ability to perform collided as I discovered that I can act,” says Mr. Kim, who said his singing had been restricted to events like his sister’s wedding until he discovered his inner SYP.

Though he’s perhaps more fluent in English than Psy, having moved to Australia at the age of 10, Mr. Kim has practiced speaking slower, broken English, and taken on phrases like “That Harbour Bridge looks like a coat hanger” and “I heard you have a big rock in the center of your country.”

He will soon launch a web series detailing the adventures of SYP, but Mr. Kim’s ultimate goal is to land a record deal as himself.